Warlords HD: Call to Arms created by Greyhound Games is their iPad version to the popular iPhone version. Warlords HD is a solid medieval strategy game in which you lead battalions of elves, trolls, orcs, and other fantastical creatures in a quest for world domination.

Gameplay

The only gamplay mode for Warlords is campaign. You have eight races to choose from. You can choose Wood Elves, Orcs of The South, The Undead, Men of The West, Mountain Trolls, Orcs of The North, Human Alliance, and Night Elves. Each race has its own strengths and weaknesses, for example, Wood levels have one up in Archery and a negative one in spear. Whereas Orcs of The South have a negative one in Archery and a one up in sword, then you have The Undead have three for archery and negative three for Halberd.

You have 500 gold to start with which you can either buy another type of unit or save it to upgrade your units later. Once you hit continue you are shown a map with other races on it. It is then ask you to select regions with arrows pointing towards them. When a region is selected it shows the name of the region, percentage of difficulty, and who owns it currently.

To play all you need to do is touch the unit icons at the top to select the units. To pick where your units spawn, touch a lane on the battlefield. The lane shows up when you press and hold your finger while sliding up and down the map. The aim of the game is very simple; get your men to the other side of the map without letting the enemies men get to yours. There is s a bar at the top of the screen that measures your progress. Every time one of your men gets to the enemy?s side the bar moves slightly right. However, if an enemy gets to your side, the bar then moves slightly to the left.

You will win the region either by making the entire bar move to the right. You can also win the game if you are the farthest ahead when time runs out. For every 20 kills that you make you get a ?Charge? that will let you send out a (current selected) soldier in every row of the field. Just touch the ?Charge? message and it will send the troops off to fight for you!

Warlords HD incorporated OpenFeint into Warlords HD and there are nine Achievements that you can obtain in this game. These achievements include ?Rack Em Up? which you get if you can kill at least 50 enemies in a single battle; ?Two Minute Man? you get by completing a round in two minutes or less; ?Flawless Victory? is an achievement that could be awarded to you if you can finish the game without loosing once.

Graphics

The graphics for Warlords HD are very good. Especially going to the iPad from the iPhone. Warlords HD is pure massive-battle-scene eye candy, making it a joy to watch your little men engaged in combat with opposing armies. The controls for the game are a little sluggish at times especially when you have a lot of men on the field at one time.

Sound

The background music gave the game more depth. Each race has a slightly different sound when attacking. The game was really brought to life with the sound FX. Hearing the clang of the swords and the whoosh of the arrows being launched at your enemies is very cool. The realism of the sound FX is really impressive.

Conclusion

For $3.99 the game is a steal. The graphics are great, sound FX is phenomenal, and the constant battles make for a really great strategy action game. Warlords HD: Call to Arms has a really good replay value mostly for wanting to see how fast you can conquer the world again.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: - 5 - Great executed design of the battlefields, really great design of the characters.Sound: - 5 - Amazing sound FX, gets you right into the game.Controls: - 4 - Accurate controls, can be sluggish at times. Gameplay: - 5 - Lots of races to choose from, great strategy game.

Playing Hints and Tips:

- Use ranged attacks against units that have high attack, but low armor.

- Mounted attackers are best taken care of by a small cluster of units that have a strong attack (like halberdiers and battle axemen)

- If a particular unit is touch to kill, consider ignoring them if your men could be better used elsewhere.